Interconnections of IPR and Human Rights: A Literature Review

This literature review explores the intricate relationship between Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Human Rights, examining their evolution and debated interconnections. It discusses how granting IPR, such as copyrights and patents, can create monopolies, potentially impacting human rights. The ...Read More

Running head: INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: INTERCONNECTED?
Intellectual Rights And Human Rights: Interconnected?
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Author Note

1INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: INTERCONNECTED?
Although there is no direct relationship between intellectual property and human
rights as both of them evolved separately, their interconnections, however, have become very
popular yet debatable since the last decade. As said by Cornish, Llewelyn & Aplin (2003), by
assigning Intellectual property rights (IPR), the creator or the innovator of a particular right
gets a monopoly over the product or service and disallows its duplicity or copy.. While,
Human Rights are the basic and primary rights that are essential for living dignifiedly in the
society and not just sustaining like mere animals. This paper strives to explain the benefit of
IPR while at the same time how it affects human rights.
With the growing importance of IPR over the years, there seems to be a lot of
turmoil between IPR and human rights in the field of medical patents (Murray & Stern,
2007). Intellectual property rights is essential for the pharmaceutical industry as different
factors like setting new business strategies, expanding the size of the company, promoting the
products, to improve the existing drug quality, and also to develop new drugs so that their
progress is secured from being tampered by the rival companies. It is also important for
negotiating a fair contract with its clients. Apart from these reasons, the primary importance
of intellectual property in respect to pharmaceutical industry is that the regulatory body of the
intellectual property does not allow any random company to manufacture medicines, both for
maintaining the quality and the pricing of the items; so that everyone could afford them.
However, it needs to be understood that IPR is not absolutely beneficial as it does
affect Human Rights at certain conditions. As commented by Helfer (2003), the intellectual
property system affects the enjoyment of different human rights; as for example copyright or
trademark granted to a company that is not functioning ethically or not meeting the regulatory
standard would manufacture malicious products that might be even fatal for the common
people. At many times, it has been evidenced that the pharmaceutical giants have patented
over certain life saving drug that is indispensible for saving the life of patients of certain

2INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: INTERCONNECTED?
ailments, yet they are either unavailable for raising the market demand or not within the reach
of the poor. As argued by Yu (2015), the fast growing modern society has overlooked that the
over-ambitious as well as vicious MNCs have been plundering the human rights of the
indigenous poor and needy people, under the rebuttal of protecting their own prized IPR from
others.
The IPR is clearly violating the Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) which states that people should have the right to live adequately for
sustaining the best of health for himself and his family which comprise of clothing, social
services, medical care and housing (Forman, 2014). Along with it, Article 12.1 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) gives the
right to enjoy the highest form of mental and physical health for all (Ugalde & Homedes,
2015) . Therefore, it can be clearly pointed out that IPR is not only beneficial but it does
infringe Human Rights too.

3INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: INTERCONNECTED?
References
Cornish, W., Llewelyn, D., & Aplin, T. (2003). Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright,
Trade Marks and Allied Rights (6 th. London, Sweet & Maxwell.
Forman, L. (2014). A Rights‐Based Approach to Global Health Policy: What Contribution
can Human Rights Make to Achieving Equity?. The Handbook of Global Health
Policy, 457-481.
Helfer, L. R. (2003). Human rights and intellectual property: conflict or coexistence. Minn.
Intell. Prop. Rev., 5, i.
Murray, F., & Stern, S. (2007). Do formal intellectual property rights hinder the free flow of
scientific knowledge?: An empirical test of the anti-commons hypothesis. Journal of
Economic Behavior & Organization, 63(4), 648-687.
Ugalde, A., & Homedes, N. (2015). Health as a Human Right. Leading Rogue State: The US
and Human Rights, 25.
Yu, P. K. (2015). Challenges to the development of a human rights framework for intellectual
property. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Paul LC Torremans,
ed., 2nd edn, Kluwer Law International.